'Thumbs down': female critics vastly outnumbered by male counterparts – new study

Film criticism remains 'a heavily male pursuit', according to a study of Rotten Tomatoes by the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film

• Men outnumber women by 73% to 27%
• Study author says gender bias impacts exposure female protagonists receive

Women's struggles to secure adequate representation in the film industry have been well documented in recent years. Now, a new study suggests they are outnumbered when it comes to writing and broadcasting about films, too.

The San Diego-based Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film (CSWTF) has published the report Thumbs Down 2016: Top Film Critics and Gender, which analyses the gender ratio of writers appearing on the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It has concluded that men outnumber women by 73% to 27%, a factor of more than two to one.